


The Ultimate Choice

by Ladyhawk_lhflu



Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Light BDSM, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:52:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5533727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyhawk_lhflu/pseuds/Ladyhawk_lhflu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mage Rodney McKay is invited to the Submissive Choosing. Why did he allow his sister to talk him into going?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ultimate Choice

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for my Bijou for Christmas, who was gracious enough to allow all of you to see it as well. Enjoy!

There once was a city of submissives and dominants. It was called Atlantis. This was a rather magical city. Magic dust lined the streets, helping to guide the dominants to their submissives, and vice versa. The dust made exquisite toys that appeared in people's homes late at night, when they wished for them. The dust helped clean and tidy their homes so they had more time to play.

And where did the dust come from?

Although nobody else knew it, the dust had been made by a genius dominant and senior mage named Rodney McKay. He created it out of magical algorhythms that he had been studying for years. 

He had toiled long hours for his city. He wanted his city to be happy and have time to play. He wanted the citizens to have safe toys to play with. Because he had people be hurt by bad matches and bad toys as he grew up. His parents had been a bad match. Rodney and his younger sister Jeannie had hid every time his mother refused to obey their father, though she said she wanted to. Because watching their father punish their mother for disobedience was not fun.

So Rodney made the dust to protect his sister from matching with someone like their father. He was extremely relieved when it had worked perfectly for her. She found a submissive who loved her gentle but sarcastic ways. It was just coincidence that it happened to work for everybody one else. It took some time, up to two years after they decided they were ready for a match. But everyone found compatible matches. In fact, some people found matches over and over, since what made them happy was having more than one partner.

But Rodney was sad. Because even though he invented the magic dust, it couldn't find him a match. He had decided to try to find his match right after Jeannie found hers. But the dust had been unable to find his match in the last 10 years. Plus the dust never made him any toys, even though he asked.

He had tried hard to find his match.

He went to matching parties, but he was ignored because he talked about the magical sciences nonstop. It didn't help his cause that he insulted half the spell mages and called them incompetent fools.

He went to play time in the dungeons, but the submissives there told him that they wouldn't play with him. He wasn't right for any of them. He was too crass for some, too gentle for others, and too rough for the rest. But most agreed that he was too smart, and definitely too complex.

When he did get to play, submissives would complain that he listened to them too much. They claimed that not everything they said was to be taken seriously. 

Rodney wondered about this, usually rather loudly. How was he to know what to do if he couldn't trust the submissive to tell him what they wanted? He asked the subs he was playing with, but they said he was the dominant, he should know. He asked the other dominants, they just laughed at him and told him to act tough like they did. Rodney studied them for awhile, but he decided most of the other dominants looked dumb when they tried to look tough. Being the smartest dominant in the city, it was wrong of him to appear dumb, even for the sake of a submissive.

But he was still mocked by the other dominants. The latest mocking was for not making the submissive he was with in the dungeon, who had given him playtime out of pity, cower before he whipped him. That stung, because it was obvious to him that the submissive didn't *want* to cower. So why would he make him do it?

That nagged him for a week, until all of a sudden, things began to change.

Eight days after his humiliation, he received something very curious in the mail. In his mailbox, he found a gold envelope. 

He grabbed it and stared at it curiously before ripping it open right there at the door. Inside the envelope, there was an invitation to the gala of the year, the great Submissive Choosing. This was the only event in the year where the submissives were in control of the proceedings. During the Choosing, many of the subs decided to declare their match with a dominant, or try out a match with a new dominant. It was part wedding, part display, party wild party, and part orgy (or so the rumors declared).

Now Rodney was rarely invited to his neighbor's for coffee, so being invited to the Submissive Choosing had him quite flummoxed. He stared at his name in gold letters on that dusky red card in shock. He turned it over, looking for an evidence that this was a joke played on him by someone who didn't like him insulting the other mages.

But it seemed real. He even cast a spell on it to prove its authenticity. It was the general article, printed at the Submissive Gathering Center, with the exact gold ink that Rodney had created for their use. (One of the sub directors had commissioned his magical services when a prankster had turned their previous gold ink to violet the day the invitations were to be printed 3 years ago. So Rodney had created the ink with a magic repellent in it. He could see the ink's resistance to his authenticity spell, proving it was genuine.)

Rodney shook his head in worry as he looked at the invitation. He should refuse as soon as possible. He had nothing to wear, no submissive (real or prospective), and everyone know he hadn't had a match of any type EVER. Most single dominants and subs went to the Choosing in hopes of finding the one, but Rodney knew this would be futile for him. He had no match. His dust had proven that to him.

He put the invitation on his coffee table and went into his basement lab to work. It was best to forget about the invitation. If he went to the Choosing, he'd only be lonely and most likely humiliated.

The senior mage started working on the weather prediction spells for the city council, and was getting pretty far, when he heard a yell from upstairs.

He put his work aside and bounded upstairs to find his sister in his living room waving the invitation to the Choosing. "You are going, right?" Jeannie exclaimed.

"I wasn't going to..." Rodney shrugged, but he was starting to get a bad feeling as he watched his sister.

Jeannie scoffed and used the invitation to point at him. "You have to go. John Sheppard's going to be there!"

Rodney scratched his head, rather befuddled. "Who?"

Jeannie rolled her eyes at her ignorant brother, exasperated in a way only siblings can be. "The Ultimate Submissive."

"Oh..." Rodney whispered. He didn't pay much attention to the social circles, but even he knew who the Ultimate Submissive was.

The Ultimate Submissive had been trained by the best handlers all over the world. He knew the perfect thing to say to a dominant, the best way to act. It was said that when he invited dominants to play, THEY came out with blissed out looks on their faces. But he had not made a match. The rumor was that he was waiting for something...or someone.

Rodney just shook his head at Jeannie. "I doubt he'd look at me. I trained well as a dominant, but I'm pretty much an outcast..."

"I know. But maybe you can ask him about the type of sub you need, since your dust didn't work on yourself." Jeannie suggested, with a pat on his shoulder.

"When did you find out that I made the dust?" The mage exclaimed.

Jeannie laughed. "I always knew. You try to hide it, but you like helping people."

Rodney grumbled about supposedly all-knowing sisters. At that, Jeannie held up a finger. "I do know one thing. I'm going to have to take you over to Madam Teyla's. You don't have anything appropriate to wear."

"I can wear the robes I wear to meet dignitaries outside the city." Rodney said, sure that was good enough.

Jeannie shook her head and grabbed Rodney's hand. "This isn't a professional meeting. You need something more dashing. Come on!" Jeannie pulled her brother out the door and down the street, barely giving him enough time to shut the door behind them.

Madam Teyla's Robe and Leathers Shop was touted as the best dominant clothes shop in Atlantis. Her clothes were the most flattering for almost anyone and lasted for years. Rodney also knew that she used the minimal amount of spells to keep their good appearance, to reduce magical wear and tear.

But when Rodney came into the shop, stumbling because Jeannie pulled his arm too hard, he figured Madam Teyla would most likely tell him to go elsewhere. For he couldn't possibly look like any of the portraits she had scattered throughout the store, showing off the clothes. These men were strong, confident, powerful. Rodney was convinced that he was dominant because he couldn't stand being ordered around by incompetent fools. That, of course, included most people in the city.

When Madam Teyla saw him, however, she bowed to him as if he were the strongest of dominants. "Welcome Master Mage McKay. Am I to help you dress for the Choosing?"

"Uh, yes?" Rodney stuttered as his sister pushed him toward the robemaker. How did Madam Teyla know he received an invitation?!

"In what style would you like your leathers?" Madam Teyla asked as she cast a spell to take his measurements.

"Something to get him noticed." Jeannie said before Rodney could utter a word. "He needs to speak with the Ultimate Submissive."

As soon as Jeannie said that, Rodney saw a shock of unruly black hair peek around some robes nearby. For some reason, this shock of hair intrigued him. But as much as he tried, he couldn't get a better look at the person before his sister dragged him behind Madam Teyla to look at some leather pants.

Surprisingly, Rodney liked the way he looked when Madam Teyla was finished helping him select an outfit. She chose a light blue flowing shirt and some leather pants that didn't hug him, but accented the shape of his legs, and actually flared a bit on the bottom. A pair of low rise boots and a few silver chains for his neck and wrist completed the outfit. 

Madam Teyla smiled. "You will do." Oddly, when he looked over at the robes he had been near earlier, Rodney saw the unruly black hair move as if in a nod.

Jeannie looked on approvingly as Rodney paid for his purchase. "You're ready, Now just don't forget to show up."

The mage knew he had better set an alarm in his lab, or Jeannie would drag him to the Choosing by his ear.

The days between his clothing purchase and the event passed as usual. He worked in his lab. He yelled at Radek, who often showed up to help him. He and Radek even saved the city that week, with one of their spells. This was unusual because they had only saved Atlantis the week earlier. Their usual schedule for saving the city was once a month.

This time they had saved the city from an attack of flying Centaurs. The Centaurs attacked periodically, wanting the lighting crystals the residents had inside the city. The Centaurs refused to trade for them, as many of Atlantis' neighbors did. For some reason, they believed having four legs entitled them to steal from everyone.

But Rodney and Radek created a spell that made the crystals resonate with a sound that sent the Centaurs cowering and handing the crystals back to whom they belonged.

Rodney blinked in surprise when he was thanked yet again by the city mayor. Because behind the mayor, he saw an unruly shock of black hair, just like the one in Madam Teyla's shop. But still couldn't see the person's face.

The day of the Choosing dawned bright, too bright for Rodney. He had fell asleep in his lab again, after late hours of work.

But he went back to work as soon as he woke, because he wouldn't be able to work that night. 

Jeannie came early to drag him out of his lab. She made sure he cleaned up and ate. She didn't want him fainting from magical hunger, or so he called it. He wouldn't admit that his body was sensitive. (Though he made a loud statement everywhere he ate that citrus was not to come near him, lest people risk losing the greatest mage in the city).

Jeannie knew his issues well, so she made sure he was well fed. Then she admonished him to avoid the wine tonight, as they sometimes add citrus juices to it for different tastes.

Rodney nodded impatiently as he dressed. "I don't want to drink, anyway. I don't want to act dumb if I meet up with the Ultimate Submissive."

Jeannie nods enthusiastically. "Good idea. " She straightened his shirt collar. "There, you look decent."

Rodney sighed at Jeannie's offhand compliment. Part of him did want to be more attractive than decent, but he knew it was futile. So he let her fuss, then shrugged into the elegant trenchcoat Jeannie insisted he buy with the ensemble.

He was about to leave and start walking to the Submission Center, when Jeannie looked out the window and squealed.

Startled, Rodney opened the door and stared at a sleek red carriage right in front of his door. "That can't be for me!" He exclaimed. But the carriage attendant came to his door and held it open. "Mage McKay, I am here to take you to the Choosing."

Rodney was so startled that Jeannie practically had to push him out the door and into the carriage. He was lucky that this was a designer carriage, because his landing was soft when he nearly fell into the seat.

Once he was in, the carriage went at a steady pace to the Submission Center, which was draped and lit beautifully for the occasion. Rodney nearly tripped again on the red carpet as he made his way in, but a hand at his elbow held him steady. He thanked the person without looking at them, but thought he saw a couple errant black strands of hair before the person moved away.

He sighed regretfully and went inside. He admired the logical layout of concentric circles of black and red leather dom chairs with sub cushions next to them, and guest tables at the edges. Doms who were expected to be Chosen sat in the chairs, the more important people closer to the center. Those who were expected to simply observe were given the guest tables. Surprisingly, he was not shown to a guest table, as he expected. He was immediately shown to a Dom's chair, in the center circle, no less! Those chairs were usually given to dignitaries and VIPs. 

Rodney sat cautiously in the comfortable leather chair once he shed his coat and gave it to the attendant. He kept looking around, hoping that nobody would come and tell him that he didn't belong there. He was surprised when he remained undisturbed. In fact, he swore he saw resentful glances shot his way when the other doms were shown to their chairs. Wondering why, he turned a little to look at the chair he was sitting on. He became curious when he saw what looked like a huge blue sapphire (or glass equivalent) right behind his head on the leather. He stared at it, wondering why it was there.

But just then, music started, announcing the arrival of the submissives. They entered from four doors in the hall. Rodney could see that they all dressed for the occasion. Some gaudily, some in leather, some in their finest party clothes.

The submissive made their way around the circles of chairs, and when they found the one they wanted to call master or mistress, they kneeled on the cushion beside the person. Rodney looked at the cushion beside his chair longingly, but then shook his head. It wasn't going to happen, so he might as well enjoy the show.

Rodney looked up to watch the new Masters and Mistresses greet their submissives. He was starting to get an idea of which ones were strangers to each other and which ones had already been together when he felt something against his leg.

He looked down to see a shock of unruly black hair touching his leg. He gasped.

The submissive at his side raised his head and smiled softly. "Hello." Bright hazel eyes gazed up at him calmly.

"Um, hi." Rodney stammered a little. "Are you lost?"

The masculine head shook a little. "I'm right where I'm supposed to be, Mage McKay." The man was around Rodney's age, but a bit thinner. He was dressed in a light green shirt and leather pants, that seemed to match the outfit Rodney was wearing. Rodney could see, however, that his feet were bare, as most submissives preferred when indoors.

Rodney looked at the submissive, dumbfounded. Nervously, he whispered. "I've never had a match."

The submissive held up his hand and opened it. In his palm was some of Rodney's magic dust. It glowed an emerald color, then sapphire. "You have one now." The submissive whispered.

Rodney's eyes went even wider. "But, but who are you?!"

"John Sheppard, Maitre."

"Uhh..." Not only was the Ultimate Submissive at his feet, but he knew Rodney's family's language (or at least how to say 'Master' in it)! This had to be someone's idea of a joke! "Who put you up to this?!"

"Nobody, Maitre. This is your dust. Would you like to test it?" Sheppard moved his hand closer to Rodney.

Rodney could see his unchanged magical signature on the dust as it shifted in Sheppard's hand. "It's real."

"Yeah, it shone like this around you right after I knew it was time to find my match."

Rodney looked at John's face, suddenly interested in the gossip he was sure others new all about. "When was that?"

"About a month ago. The day I saw you for the first time. I had to know if you were for me." Sheppard held Rodney's gaze calmly, but there seemed to be some tension in his stance, as if he was also nervous.

Rodney scoffed. "Now I know you're lying. Nobody likes me the first time they see me."

"Oh, I did. You commanded the whole SGC in the Journey Room. Those mages might not like you, but they won't be traveling without spells to create basic utilities anymore." Sheppard seemed to smile at the memory. "Though the guy with the pony tail didn't like that your spell to clean water worked a lot better than his."

"Kavanaugh's an ass." Rodney said automatically, having said it many times before. But then he stared at Sheppard. "How did you get into a classified area? You're not in the SGC. Wait, you are! You're the head Auror for the Journeymen! You wanted me for your team, but Weir stuck you with Zelenka."

"You are good at what you do. But Elizabeth was afraid you's screw up the negotiations." Sheppard looked a bit annoyed.

"I'm not good with people. Submissives hate me, everyone at work hates me..." Rodney couldn't help it, he reached out to touch the hair that had dogged him for the past few days. Sheppard moved into the touch and Rodney could have sworn he heard a soft purr. He petted the soft hair for a little as they were quiet, their conversation lost in the new discovery of touch.

The servers came through with food selections for both submissives and dominants. Unsure how to handle this, Rodney let Sheppard choose what he wanted, while he was very careful to select items he was sure didn't contain citrus.

He grabbed for a glass of wine, momentarily forgetting his sister's warning. But Sheppard grabbed the glass easily before it could reach Rodney's lips. "It's not safe for you."

"Damn, I forgot. My sister told me...Wait, you read my file!"

"Of course I did." Sheppard replied softly. "Anyone who joins the Sojourning Gate Consortium has most of the details of their life in their file. I needed to know those things if I was to be your team leader, or your submissive."

Rodney looked at Sheppard suspiciously, but the kneeling man just shrugged. "Let me get you something safer to drink, please. They have your favorite beer at the bar."

Rodney nodded and watched as Sheppard easily stood and headed to the bar. He looked around at the others once Sheppard was out of sight. He saw odd, envious glances turned his way everywhere he looked. One in particular caught his eye, from a man with a long pony tail and glasses. Kavanaugh!

But suddenly, Kavanaugh's expression changed to a smile. "Auror Sheppard, you owe me money for making sure that magic dust showed the right colors." he called out. 

Sheppard grimaced as he walked back to Rodney with his drink. "You'll get your damned money tomorrow, I told you that!"

Magic dust? Colors? Sheppard knew Kavanaugh?! Rodney's powerful brain could reach only one conclusion. Everything Sheppard said was a lie! Sheppard faked the whole thing! Rodney's magic dust had been modified!

Rodney got up in a huff and ran out the door before Sheppard could return to their spot in the center circle.

He ran all the way back to his place before he realized he had forgotten his coat. Damn. He wasn't about to walk back, though. He didn't want to be humiliated twice. He couldn't even call it to him. It was hard to whip up a retrieval spell for something he only wore once. It was best to leave it. Maybe Sheppard would give it to Kavanaugh, as he obviously owed the ass for helping him play a trick on Rodney.

Angered and depressed, Rodney stomped downstairs to his lab. He needed distraction. So he grabbed the cloaking spell he was working on and kept trying to perfect it until the wee hours of the morning. At some point around dawn, he ended up falling asleep at his lab table.

When he woke, he felt a weight on his back. He turned his head to see the leather trenchcoat he wore the night before draped over him.

Startled by this, he looked around. He gasped when he saw a figure kneeling at his side, draped with a veil studded with sapphires. "What?! Who?!"

"I apologize for causing your misunderstanding last night, Maitre. Mage Kavanaugh did not color your dust. He colored the dust that was used to create my veils." Sheppard raised his blue veil and revealed a green veil studded with emeralds draped over one arm. "Your dust showed me the colors of our auras. So I wanted to have sand veils created in those colors. It's a mark of ownership for submissives."

"Oh..." Rodney said softly as he fingered John's blue veil. "They're very nice."

"I hoped you would approve. I want everyone to know that I'm no longer available to play with." John smiled up at Rodney. "One of the first things I noticed about you is that you don't share well. I found I like that idea."

"But most submissives wait for their masters to request those..." The mage said quietly, hoping the initiative was actually a good sign.

"My Maitre is a busy mage who suffers no morons. I knew they needed to be ready for when you wanted me to wear them." Sheppard touched Rodney's knee lightly.

"I'm too crass, too average looking, too rude for you." Rodney despaired.

"You are upfront, not fake, and I won't have to try to see through what you're saying to see the truth." John countered.

"My sister says I need a keeper..."

"And who better than someone who knows you and is glad to fulfill your needs and wishes even before you ask?" John turned Rodney's stool so he could lean his head against Rodney's leg. "I'm an Auror. I'm not a 'tell me everything I should do' type of submissive. I'm one who takes action for the one I serve."

"Will you tell me what you need in return?" Rodney thought about all those submissives who told him that he needed to be able to read their minds.

John nodded. "Of course. How else will you know what I need?"

Rodney sighed in relief as he realized this might actually work. "Who knew that I'd be what the ultimate submissive needs." He said in wonder.

John shrugged. "I worked on perfecting my submission because no dom moved me to want to serve them for more than a day. I thought there was something wrong with me, so I worked hard on being right for those I served. But then I saw you and I realized those I served weren't right for me."

Rodney reached down to cup John's cheek. John nuzzled Rodney's hand softly. "Will you give me a chance to prove that we're right for each other?" John asked softly.

"As long as you act like you. I want to know you, not the Ultimate Submissive." Rodney whispered back as he urged John to stand so he could lead him upstairs.

Once there, by mutual agreement, they made breakfast together and talked as they ate. Agreeing to be as open as possible with each other, they decided to take it slowly. But it was obvious they were both giddy with the possibility that they both found their match.

They compared notes on likes, dislikes, families, sports and the like and found they agreed on many things.

But they were in the middle of a friendly argument on which comic book spells would be most useful for their heroes when the front door opened and Rodney's sister barged in.

"Mer, there was a big happening at the Choosing, did you see it? What is the Ultimate Submissive doing here?!" Jeannie gaped and stared at John with wide eyes.

"I came to be with your brother...Mer?" John raised an eyebrow at Rodney.

"Meredith. It's a family name. I don't use it." Rodney muttered, then turned to Jeannie. "The dust said we were a match."

"What?!" Jeannie nearly yelled. "This is..well...he knows about you right?"

John laughed. "I've been following him around for a month. We have some things to work out, but yes I want your rude, obnoxious brother."

Rodney glared at John but his expression lightened when John came over to kneel at his feet and put his head on Rodney's leg.

Jeannie just stared.

Rodney sighed at his sister. "Can you give us some time to figure this out?"

"Oh, oh, yes. Sorry." Jeannie turned and headed out the door. "I'll be back in a few days." she shouted before the door closed behind her.

Once they were alone again, John pulled up Rodney's tunic a little so he could nuzzle the swell of Rodney's belly. Rodney reached a hand to run down John's back. "I do have a bed."

"Do you have a playroom?" John lifted his head.

"Yes, but no toys. I never needed them at home." Rodney shrugged, a bit embarrassed by that.

"I'll give you a list of ones I like, then. You can start there, or tell me what you prefer. I'm sure your dust will make them for us now." John smiled. "In the meantime, I can show you my other talents."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I have been known to make masters come by just breathing on their cocks..."

Intrigued, Rodney hurried John upstairs after making sure his door was locked. He had made his Choice, he had chosen to take a chance on finding love and more.

It was time to let go and let the magic of discovery take him to a place he and his new match could share. 

 


End file.
